"All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh-water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?!"

From Lawrence M. Krauss, internationally known theoretical physicist. Ambrose Swasey Professor of Physics, Professor of Astronomy, Chairman of the department of Physics and Director of the Center for Education and Research in Cosmology and Astrophysics at Case Western Reserve University, author of over 300 scientific publications:

Every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And, the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics: You are all stardust. You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded, because the elements - the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution and for life - weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way for them to get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode. So, forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today.

Which of course makes me think of this:

We're getting rid of a biggish box of maps, all kinds: highway maps, depth charts for sailing, state and local, etc. They're nice and colorful and seem like they'd be a lot of fun for craft projects -- decoupage, jewelry, blank book binding, home-made cards, etc. Does anybody want them? If so let me know and I'll send them to you. I just hate for them to go to recycling when they're so pretty!

Very cool!!

"Over six hundred historic photographs of London, never seen in public before, have been published for the first time...The collection features images of most of London's landmarks, churches, open spaces, statues and buildings, alongside social and cultural scenes from the Victorian to the inter-war period..."

read full article

The entire set of images is published in The Gentle Author's London Album.

I'm a sucker for stationery (pay attention, sekrit santas!) but I'm almost as much a sucker for gorgeously illustrated calendars. For years, my mom's traditional Xmas gift was the Brothers Hildebrandt's Tolkien Calendar, and believe it or not I still have all of them.

Therefore I must plug two awesome calendars. The first is Great Moments in Library History, a very clever and funny calendar which includes the introduction of the large print book (20,000 BC) and the first reference librarian (109 BC, "The oracle is in").

The second is the Sci-Fi Fantasy Pinup Calendar, which was conceived and executed by sci-fi/fantasy author Patrick Rothfuss as a benefit for Heifer International. Mine just came in the mail and the Terry Pratchett page is gorgeous. I may have to go as her for Halloween next year...

Cast your mind back, to the dim and misty days of October 2001, just before The Sorceror's Stone was released in theatres, before the entire civilized world knew who Albus Dumbledore was, when the only pictures we had of Professor McGonagall and Severus Snape were those in our own heads (but still, alas, long after the first Harry Potter fanfic surfaced in the Pit of Voles). Into this anxious time of uncertainty and anticipation (will the kid who plays Harry be able to act? will he look like I imagined?) stepped Vanity Fair, with a photo feature called "Something About Harry" and the world's very first look at The Boy Who Lived (not to mention the Professor Who Made His Life Hell and Spawned a Thousand Fangirls, Me Included).

Travel back in time with me and see them...

Annie Leibovitz (she of the infamous John Lennon/Yoko Ono Rolling Stone photo), did the pictures and she set up some fantastic poses -- she made sure to work in glimpses of Hogwarts as backdrops, an extra bonus. I can't decide if the shot of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team lounging about the Common Room is my favorite, or the intriguing shot of Quirrel, Hooch and what looks like a pterodactyl skeleton (in the library, yet!).

I now REALLY want a copy of this issue of Vanity Fair.